It’s no longer an exclusive but is the Wii U version of Ubisoft’s stunning 2D platformer still the definitive one?

Nintendo must be absolutely gutted at how Rayman Legends has turned out. Not only is one of the best games of the year no longer a Wii U exclusive but, perhaps just as embarrassingly, it’s such an infinitely more ambitious game than New Super Mario Bros. U it’s positively shameful. In fact Rayman Legends is probably the best 2D game of the generation.

Originally the idea was that Rayman Legends was to be a launch day exclusive for the Wii U, but then it got delayed to December, and then February, before finally being turned into a multiformat game and delayed all the way until August. We had vowed to review the Wii U version first but the Xbox 360 edition arrived much earlier and we’ve only now got our hands on what was supposed to be the lead version.

Rayman Legends is a loose sequel to 2011’s Rayman Origins, a game rightly praised for its excellent visuals but which we felt lacked the full variety and imagination you’d expect of a top tier Nintendo game. Ubsioft’s Montpellier studio obviously agrees, as this takes everything that was great about the original and refines and augments it to a point of near perfection.

Apart from anything this is one of the most visually stunning games we’ve ever seen, and those that dismiss it as ‘only’ 2D deserve a lifetime of generic brown landscapes and tedious simulations. Not only is the gloriously Gallic art style full of personality but the attention to detail and clever use of polygonal graphics means you can never guess what’s coming next, from being pursued by giant dragons and trolls to underwater sections of staggering beauty.

But what truly marks Rayman Legends out as something special is that it does fulfil the Nintendo promise (so often broken now by the originators themselves) of a new idea every level. This was one of the main failings of Rayman Origins, but Legends manages to almost effortlessly reinvent itself at every turn – despite a 12+ hour running time.

There is a vague attempt to pretend there’s a story tying everything together but thankfully it’s one you can completely ignore as you control Rayman, Globox, the generic Teensies, and the new Valkyrie-like Barbara. There are a variety of other characters and skins (including exclusive Wii U ones for Mario and Luigi) but these are the four primary leads.

As ever the platforming feels a little floatier than the Mario Bros., but the controls are nevertheless precise and reliable – with Rayman’s spinning haircut still allowing him to glide gracefully through the air. That’s an old trick for the series though and Legends eagerly piles on new features such as levels more focused on shooting, puzzle-solving, stealth, and just about every other game genre imaginable.

The pinnacle of this cross-genre pollination is probably the musical stages that play out at the end of each world. These use cartoon-ified versions of real songs (Black Betty in one particularly memorable stage) as you try and jump and punch your way through the stage in time to the music. The choreography is amazing and we would’ve quite happily have played a whole game based solely on that idea.

But that’s to take nothing away from the boss fights, which although relatively traditional in their pattern-learning structure are the very pinnacle of the game’s visual prowess. According to Ubisoft these were one of the main additions during the game’s unexpectedly elongated development and the mix of 3D graphics and 2D gameplay works amazingly well.

Rayman Legends (Wii U) – touching action

The four main characters means the return of the four-player co-op features from Origins (in fact many of Origins levels are available to unlock within the game, almost providing a 2-for-1 bargain). But there is a fifth playable character: Murfy the fairy from Rayman 2.

Murfy is the focus of most of the GamePad-specific features in the Wii U version, where as well as making use of the controller’s motion sensors another player can control Murfy directly by using the touchscreen. This of course is impossible on the other home formats and so instead Ubisoft was forced to make Murfy less interactive, as detailed in our Xbox 360 review and our interview with the game’s lead designer).

Playing with Murfy on the GamePad is an immediately more exciting prospect as you prod the screen to distract (or tickle) enemies as another character runs along. Moving platforms, cutting ropes to release obstacles, and turning dials by rotating the whole GamePad in a circle makes far more imaginative use of the Wii U’s controller than New Super Mario Bros. U – but on your own these sections still pale next to the rest of the game.

Having to switch between the TV and the touchscreen is as annoying as usual and we were always itching to get back to the proper game. With a friend though controlling Murfy is a great way for a less-skilled ally to join in. Apart from the boss stages you can play as Murfy on any level you like and although the amount of onscreen interactions are reduced in levels that don’t feature him in single-player there’s still plenty for your ally to poke and play with.

Multiplayer Murfy is the greatest benefit of playing the Wii U version, but there’s also an optional Off TV mode and some effective Miiverse integration that ensures it’s definitely the superior version.

Perhaps the Wii U version being the lead format is the reason why there’s no online co-op but we suspect it’s simply that Ubisoft, like Nintendo, realise that this sort of game is much more fun when played with someone whose elbow you can shove as you go along. An online option might have been welcome for completeness sake, but it’s not how we’d ever want to play it.

Rayman Legends is a game that begs to be experienced with friends clustered round the same television. Not just because it’s more fun that way but because it’s the perfect proof that not only is 2D gaming not dead but neither is the idea that there can be a family-friendly action game that all will enjoy. Rayman Legends isn’t just the best 2D platformer of the generation it’s one of the very best games of any kind.

In Short: The definitive version of the best non-Mario platformer ever made and a stunning work of imagination, where the visuals, music, and gameplay all resonate in perfect harmony.

Pros: Insanely inventive at every turm, with mountains of content that constantly one-ups itself. Superb graphics, amazing use of sound, and great co-op. Fantastic art design.

Cons: Murfy’s sections are still not much fun in single-player, even if they’re much better in multiplayer on the GamePad. No online co-op.